In 'Postgraduate'

"Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, with a very diverse mix of cultures and a community of students from around the world. It was a no-brainer for me to attain my education in a city of culture."

Ola Dantis graduated with an MSc in Strategic Marketing and Consulting in 2010. He is the Managing Partner of Cornerstone Associates, a strategic consulting firm that institutes excellence within leading corporations, governments, and social sector organizations across Nigeria.

While at the University of Birmingham, Ola was a recipient of the Simon Evans Scholarship, awarded to exceptional students on MSc Marketing programmes.

My career

Since graduating, I have been involved with a number of projects, mainly in the non-profit space. I enjoy the challenges of working with a range of different industries, seeing clients succeeding after implementing operational strategies or new brands developed by our firm.

My career has also led to me serve as President for the charity ACEAfrica, Nigeria, and a personal highlight has been seeing the impact made by philanthropic work on bettering the lives of Africans.

Why Birmingham Business School?

Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, with a very diverse mix of cultures and a community of students from around the world. It was a no-brainer for me to attain my education in a city of culture. Diversity breeds creativity and the university’s large campus with open spaces creates focal points for people to meet and have interesting conversations, which I believe helps to foster an inclusive learning culture at the university.

The ‘soft’ education I received, such as appreciating the importance of roles in a team, negotiating, listening and communication skills not only helped in business but also in my day-to-day activities. The ‘Consulting in practice’ module offered on my course was also hugely relevant. Being able to go and carry out a real live consultancy project with a company, for me, served as a solid footing to what I now do everyday.

Making the most of the support available

The support from the academic staff was exceptional, as lecturers and staff are open to collaboration and always ready to listen. And when in doubt, seminars brought a new meaning to teamwork and collaboration, as it allows students to shed some light on topics that interested them, while involving the rest of the team.

"....seminars brought a new meaning to teamwork and collaboration"

Challenges

I worked on a 5-month project as an independent consultant with the Summit Group during my MSc. This was an exciting project as it gave me an insight into consultancy in practice, the importance of values as a consultant. To succeed, I had to be adaptable and organised by effectively combining the consulting work with my graduate management training at Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, as well as getting on with writing my academic thesis in university.

Ultimately, my resilience paid off as I obtained a distinction for my academic thesis.